Improvement in apparatus for cleaning railway tracks



I JOSEPH-PARADE.

lmprovement'i'n Apparatus for Cleaning Railway-Tracks.

NO. 127,361. 7 Patented May 28,1872.

UNITED STATES PATENT JOSEPH PARADIS, 0E BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TOHIMSELF, WM. H. DREW, AND sARAH PARKER, 0E sAME rLAcE.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RAILWAY TRACKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 127,361, dated May 28,1872; antedated May 14, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosEPH PARADIS, of

. Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have inventedan Improvement in Apparatus for Cleaning Railroad Tracks; and thefollowing is declared to be a correct description of thesame.

Heretofore revolving brushes havebeen used to clear street railroadtracks of snow and ice, the same being hung so that the front brushcleaned one rail and the rear brush the other rail; but it has requiredgreat power to work these track-clearers, and the necessary speed of thebrushes was obtained by several gearwheels that caused great loss ofpower by friction.

My invention consists of a revolving brushblower in a cylindrical case,hung diagonally under the truck of the car, and revolved by the directaction of gear or friction wheels, so as to create a strong current ofair to aid in the operation of clearing the track.

In the drawing, Figure l is an inverted plan, and Fig. 2 a sideelevation of my apparatus.

a a are the running-wheels of a street-car truck, and b the truck-frame.The revolving brush 0 on the shaft 0 is hung in bearings d on a linediagonal to the track, and this brush extends the whole width of thetrack. The shaft 0 carries near its end the pinion f, that gears intothe miter-wheel f upon the wheel a, and thereby the brush a is revolvedwith great speed when the car is in motion. The teeth or wheel f maybeupon the inner or outer face of the wheel a, and the lever and handlea are employed to rotate an eccentric box in the bearings cl, and throwthe gear f in or out of contact with f, so as to stop the brush or causeits revolution. I prefer to use two brushes, one in front of the wheelsand the other behind the same, the parts being duplicated, as shown. Therevolving brush a is made with plates g attached to the heads h upon theshaft 6, and from the plates gthe pieces of cane, rattan, or similarmaterial project, and these can be easily replaced when worn out. Thecylindrical case "i surrounds the brush 0 except upon the under side, sothat the revolution of the brush in the case creates a strong current ofair beneath the edge of the case through the opening 70, and thiscurrent will be strong enough to remove most of the snow or dust uponthe track, so that the brush has very little to remove; and where twobrushes are used the opening k is made wider at the forward end, so thatthat brush removes the upper part of the snow and the rear brushfinishes the work. The

boards I (see dotted lines) may be hinged at the sides of the opening isto direct the material as it is thrown off from the track. Instead ofthe pinion f and gear-wheel f, the brushes can be revolved by conicalfrictionwheels kept in contact with the faces of the wheels a, as shownat w. The adjustable plow o is provided at the side of the truck tothrow the drifts of snow further from the track, and one of these may beupon each side of the truck, so that the apparatus will be equallyefficient if moving in either direction. The lever 19 and pawl q serveto move the plow 0, and hold it at any angle or place it entirely out ofthe way.

I do not claim two separate brushes placed diagonally, and revolved fromthe axle by geai wheels thereon that are placed between the wheels, asthese have been employed; but the brushes do not and cannot both extendacross both tracks. By driving the brush by contact with the wheelitself, or a gear upon the outer side thereof, the brushes can extendentirely across both tracks, and the rapidity of the brush is in creasedin consequence of the enlarged size of the driving-wheel.

I claim as my invention 1. The brushes 0 within the case i, revolved bya pinion that is in contact with the surface of the car-wheel or teeththereon, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The eccentric bearing for the shaft of the brushes, in combinationwith the pinion and actuating car-wheel, as and for the purposes setforth.

Dated September 1, 1871.

JOSEPH PARADIS.

Witnesses GEO. D. WALKER, GEo. T. PINcKNEY.

